Lynch leads NIU to 3rd straight MAC West title

DEKALB — Northern Illinois punched its ticket to a third straight Mid-American Conference championship game in Detroit after it rallied in the second half to defeat Toledo 31-24 Wednesday night at Huskie Stadium.

Quarterback Jordan Lynch finished with 569 total yards, including a career-high 407 yards passing. He completed 25 of 36 throws with three touchdowns and an interception.

He also had his ninth 100-yard rushing game with 162 yards on 30 carries as NIU (10-1, 7-0) won its 10th straight game and captured the MAC West title for the third consecutive season.

"One of our goals that we put down in the summer was to go back to the MAC championship game," Lynch said of his defending league champs.

Trailing by seven points at halftime, Northern Illinois scored three touchdowns in the third quarter and added a field goal early in the fourth for a 31-14 lead before holding off a Toledo (8-3, 5-2) rally.

The Huskies' superior firepower took over 18 seconds into the third quarter when Lynch's 73-yard touchdown pass to Martel Moore evened the score at 14-14.

The Huskies took the lead with a nine-play, 99-yard drive as Lynch connected with Perez Ashford from 6 yards out to make it 21-14 with 9:42 to go in the third. Akeem Daniels padded the lead with a 6-yard run late in the quarter to culminate a seven-play, 97-yard drive.

Mathew Sims booted a 43-yard field goal to give NIU a 31-14 lead in the fourth before Toledo answered with a touchdown run by Cassius McDowell and a Jeremiah Detmer 34-yard field goal to make it close.

Moore caught seven passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, including a 73-yarder 18 seconds into the third quarter that got the Huskies rolling.

"That was a heck of a play, that was big time," NIU coach Dave Doeren said. "That sparked us and things just kind of took off."

Tommylee Lewis had six receptions for 65 yards and Ashford caught five for 70 yards.

"Lynch is a great player," Toledo coach Matt Campbell said. "The thing you know in this conference is that the best quarterback usually has the chance to win a championship.

"He's playing at an extremely high level. As much as he runs … his ability to run with such power yet throw the ball with great consistency, and have the ability to sustain his success over the last 11 football games … a lot of credit has to go to him. He's certainly a special football player. He has a lot of things to look forward to."

Toledo standout David Fluellen rushed for 79 yards on 22 carries with one touchdown. Rockets quarterback Terrance Owens completed 22 of 32 passes, but was intercepted three times.

"Our defense did a good job of taking David Fluellen out of the game … (one of) the nation's leading rushers," Doeren said. "That was a big part of the game."

NIU defensive back Jimmie Ward had 11 tackles, forced a fumble and had an interception. But it was the Huskies offense that really took off in the third quarter.

"Schematically, they came out more open in the second half," Campbell said. "And I thought they made some really good adjustments in the second half as a coaching staff. I don't know if we made the adjustments to be successful as a coaching staff."

The Huskies wind up their regular season on Nov. 23 at Eastern Michigan. The MAC championship game will be Nov. 30 at Ford Field in Detroit.